Safety-support for railroad-rails.



No. 766,184. I A PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

W. HALL. SAFETY SUPPORT FOR RAILROAD RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED DBO.2, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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IVILLIAIWI HALL, OF MENOMINEE, MICHIGAN.

SAFETY-SUPPORT FOR RAILROAD-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,184, dated August 2, 1904.

Application filed December 2, 1903. Serial No. 183,476.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Menominee, in the county of Menominee and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Safety- Support for Railroad-Rails, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices employed for increasing the stability of the road-beds of railroads, and has for its object to provide a cheaply-constructed and easily applied and adjusted device whereby the rails may be securely coupled and prevented from spreading, more especially upon curves and other localities where the rails are liable to be subjected to severe lateral strains or from displacement by frost or other natural causes:

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter shown and described, and specified in the claim.

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a railway-track with the improvement applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section of the same.

The improved device is applicable at any part of a railway-line, but is more particularly required upon curves and at other localities wherethe rails are liable to severe lateral strains, and as many of the devices may be employed as required, the number employed and the distance apart at which they are placed depending upon the severity of the strains to which they will be subjected and other circumstances associated therewith. The improved device may also be required in connection with tracks liable to be displaced by the action of frost or from other natural causes, and I do not, therefore, desire to be limited in any manner to the particular portion of the track upon which it may be located.

For the purpose of illustration the improved device is shown applied to a portion of railway-track at a curve, 10 11 representing the opposite rails and 12 the supporting-ties.

The improved device consists of two oppositely-disposed members 13 14, extending beneath the rails between the ties and having at (No model.)

their outer ends upwardly-extending clips or lugs 15 16, conforming to and bearing against the outer sides of the base-flanges and vertical webs of the rails and extending upwardly and bearing beneath the treads or balls of the rails to afford a support thereto, as shown in Fig. 2. The inner ends of the members 13 let are reversely threaded, or threaded right and left, and coupledby a turnbuckle 17 and provided with jam-nuts 18 19. By this simple means the opposite rails may be firmly clamped together and the clamping means adjusted to any required extent by means of the turnbuckle, so that all tendency to lateral movement will be successfully resisted and the stability and integrity of the track maintained.

An important advantage of the present device resides in the fact that the upper side of each member is unobstructed at the inner side of the upstanding shoulder,whereby each rail is free to yield inwardly or return laterally to its original position after the passage of a train. This unrestricted inward yielding of the rails has the advantage that it does not Work loose any of the parts of the present rail-holder and undue spreading of the rails is prevented by the shoulders 15 and 16. Furthermore, when the device works loose upon the rails it may be conveniently tightened thereon by backing off the locking-nuts 18 and 19 and then manipulating the turnbuckle 17 to draw the shoulders 15 and 16 into snug engagement with the rails, the nuts of course being returned into engagement with the turnbuckle to prevent accidental turning thereof.

The parts will preferably be of steel and will be of adequate size to withstand the strains to which they will be subjected.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is A railway-rail holder comprising opposite brace-rods, each rod being screw-threaded at its inner end and provided at its outer end with an upstanding integral shoulder shaped to bear against the outer side of the rail, the intermediate portion of the rod between the screw-threaded end and the shoulder being free from obstructions to permit of a rail yielding inwardly thereon, a turnbuckle engaging the screw-threaded inner terminals of my oWnI have hereto aflixed my signature in the rods to adjustably connect the same, and the presence of two Witnesses.

locking-nuts fitted upon the screw-threaded portions of the rods and engaging the ends of WILLIAM HALL 5 the turnbuckle to prevent accidental rotation Witnesses:

thereof. Wu. HoLMEs,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as GERTRUDE MURRAY. 

